Video #2: Jacob’s Birthday (taken 1/29/12)
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Author: jfwerth
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Video Unveiling #1
I’ve decided to make your week exceptional by releasing one new video every day for 8 days. The videos start from January and go up to present day (May 15th), so enjoy seeing the growth – I know I did!
Video #1: Jacob’s Birthday (taken 1/29/12)
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Hiatus adjourned
After nearly two months off the blog, I have lots of content to share with you. I’m sure I have lots of stories too, but honestly, I just can’t remember what has all happened since I wrote last.
We moved into our new house in the middle of March and have yet to discover some of our things in boxes. This was especially true since half our belonging were in storage, leading to a Christmas-like atmosphere upon opening some boxes. All in all, we don’t have too many boxes left and it’s been a nice slow settling in to the new place. (Of course we were delayed by two weeks waiting for carpets…but that’s a whole other story).
Right now Elise is wrapping up the school year (7 days left!) and preparing for summer vacation, where she will spend lots of time in the backyard with Jacob! She has requested a small kiddie pool as her oven is back on (translation: we are expecting our second child)! The due date is September 24th and we are excited to welcome a new member into our family.
As we start to prepare for number two (which will again be a surprise), number one is making great strides. Over the past couple of months, Jacob has gone from an unsure toddler to an unstoppable force who gets a kick out of moving things 3-4 times his size (chairs, couches, playpens). He is becoming very independent and his favorite word seems to be ‘no’, although he knows a few others:
- mawmaw = I want
- mawm = mom
- buh-buy = bye
- hullo = hello
- eh, eh, eh = You’re not giving me what I want
- Oh! = wow/look at that! (not real sure on that one yet)
In the meantime, Jacob has had his 15 month checkup where he received a few more shots (only a few more to go until age 3). The doctor said his growth was tracking very nicely.
Other activities that we’ve been up to, include:
- Hosting the Degen’s (Larry, Mary, and Laura) for Easter
- Hosting the Werth’s (Fred, Cathy, and Teresa) for Mother’s Day
- Going on hikes through the woods
- Riding bikes
- Visiting a wine bar
- Fighting with home insurance companies (don’t use Liberty Mutual – again, another story).
So now that we’ve found our video camera again, I will be posting a number of videos of the (not so) little man walking and making noise. When I find the other camera, I’ll hopefully upload some photos 🙂 Happy spring!
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New House: Week One
We have now been in our new home for one week. While not too much happens during the weekdays, this past weekend was a fruitful one! However, I should probably back up a week:
Last weekend (March 16-18), both immediate families came down and helped out with the big move. Elise, Jacob, and I were to pack our belongings and move to our new house. We were blessed with good weather (and lots of help) which led to a productive weekend. Thursday, Mary and Larry (along with help from the cats), finished painting the upstairs and helped prepare for the move. Friday, we were able to pack up the apartment, put it in the U-Haul, drive to Iowa City, unload, and drive back down to retrieve the items in storage. While the necessities were unpacked on Friday, Saturday was helpful in preparing the rest of the house. Fred and Cathy painted the basement while others unloaded the U-Haul storage run and/or raked leaves off the already blooming flowerbeds. Saturday night and Sunday were a little more relaxing with small projects being completed and all the guests heading for home.
This past weekend, Elise and I continued to unpack boxes and organize the clutter :). We were able to get a large amount of yard work done, such as mowing the lawn, installing our first rain barrel, and putting down some fresh mulch. There’s plenty left undone, but it has made a significant difference.
During the week, we continued to meet and be impressed with our new neighbors. It is a great neighborhood with a number of young families and some ‘older’ grandparents at the other end of things.
Jacob has made leaps and bounds in the past week, developing his confidence in his ability to walk. He can now freely walk by himself for 10-15 feet. I will post a video soon of his travels!
All in all, the move has gone well and the family is adjusting great. The house has taken on new life and we are very happy in our new abode!
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Flowers and Fun
Elise got a hold of the camera one day and started taking some photos. Here is some of the carnage:
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House
On Friday, March 2nd Elise and I closed on our new house. After searching long and hard, we finally were able to pick up a nice house that has some great features. Looking for a house that needed some work was proving to be difficult, as every house we did go see was either a dive or had an accepted offer already. I was able to spot this one the day it was listed and 24 hours later we had an offer on the table. We were the first of two offers, and the seller (an estate) decided to select ours. After inspections, finances, viewings, and signing our life away, we are now homeowners once again.
As is common with estate sales, the house needed some modernizing. We spent the first weekend painting ceilings and the second weekend painting the walls. The new (used) appliances are in and the old carpets are out. Enjoy these photos of the current project. Once all the dust has settled, I’ll be sure to post some before-and-after shots.
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Photos!
So…we have been slacking on the photo (and post) output on the blog as of late. There has been a number of changes recently that have made our lives pretty exciting. Some of these include Jon’s new position, Jacob’s first birthday, and buying a house. This is a post of photos taken in the month of January. I will be posting others soon, so feel free to check back in a few days.
As always, enjoy!
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Changes
Times they are a changin’…
The past few weeks have been quite the exciting time for the Werth family. Jacob celebrated his first birthday and had numerous celebrations: one at daycare, one with Fred, Cathy, & Teresa Werth, and one with the Larry and Mary Degen. He has moved entirely to big boy food (real milk and table food).
In the midst of all this celebrating, another exciting development has occurred: we have bought a house! After looking for a few months, we finally got the jump on a nice house with great potential (which has been quite the challenge)! As an estate sale, it has a bit of work to be done to bring it up to modern times, but we are looking forward to having a project and a little extra space. Jon’s favorite fea
ture: a two car attached garage! The house is on the southeast side of Iowa City and fits the bill perfectly. We are now considered “sale pending” and are closing on March 2nd, with a move date tentatively scheduled for March 18th.
I’m sure we’ll have plenty of pictures in the coming weeks and months (including some photos still from Jacob’s birthday), but for now here is a picture of the outside.
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One Year!
This post is in honor of Jacob’s first birthday. One year ago, I started this blog with the hope of keeping our friends and family updated with our growth as a family and parents. Today we are celebrating not only how much Jacob has grown, but how much Elise and I have changed over the past year as well.
One year ago, Elise and I were living in our house in Coralville. Elise was on her second year of teaching and Jon was working through grad school. Since then we have sold the house, moved to Kalona, Elise studied PLTW, Jon graduated, we bought a car, Jon got a full-time position, and last but not least, have enjoyed our wild adventures with the little man. Indeed a lot has changed!
In conclusion…Happy Birthday to Jacob and make sure to check out this post: Jacob Arrives. (I particularly enjoyed re-viewing the video of Jacob in the NICU.)
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Mobile Friendly
Werth Family Online has gone mobile!
I’m testing out a new mobile interface for our blog, which will enable our readers to follow our adventures on your mobile devices. Navigation and reading of our posts will be a lot easier and less frustrating on a small device. There will be no change to computer users.
I would love to get your feedback on the new look. Let me know if there are any issues or if you have any suggestions!